Vietnam is attempting to reduce marine accidents and better ensure marine safety to develop the maritime economy. — Photo baoquocte.vn

The country is a regional hub with more than 100,000 domestic and international vessels coming in and out of domestic seaports each year, and that number is on the rise.

It is reported that 107 marine accidents have occurred in the nation’s territorial waters over the past five years, more than half caused by collisions.

The data was released at a workshop held on Thursday in Hanoi by the Vietnam Maritime Administration and the British Embassy.

The workshop, financed by the UK – Vietnam bilateral fund under the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, aimed to improve the capacity of 50 participants from both central and local-level maritime authorised agencies for efficient investigations of marine accidents.

Speaking at the workshop, deputy director of the administration Nguyen Hoang said he appreciated the workshop because it presented tools, including simulator operations, and applications to reconstruct marine accidents based on 3D scenes.

The workshop also provided skills to investigate marine accidents via case studies, Hoang said.

Finding the causes of marine accidents was very important because based on the causes, managerial agencies could issue appropriate measures to prevent similar accidents in the future, he added.

Gareth Ward, British Ambassador to Vietnam, said Việt Nam had a coastline of over 3,000km and was the centre of trade in the region, so it had a complex maritime situation.

One of the objectives for Vietnam now was to use new technology to reduce the number of accidents, he said.

British technology in the area of analysing accidents and preventing accidents at sea was leading the way, he said.

As the lead trainer for the workshop, Dr Phil Thompson from simulation and training business BMT Group said simulator operation was now considered the modern way to maximise the use of state-of-the-art digital tools for accident investigations.

With its long coastline of 3,260km and geographical proximity to regional maritime hubs and international maritime routes, Vietnam is believed to have great potential for maritime economic development.

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VNS